Tough weekend…

Getting swept is never fun, so there’s not much that can be said after a weekend like that. Let’s just hope the team got it out this weekend and will turn it back on this week against the Reds and Red Sox…

Among the things that tend to happen on a daily basis if you purchase the Insider Clubhouse Tour are interactions with numerous current and/or future Hall of Famers, access in areas of the stadium where even the most fortunate fans never get to go and a chance to watch the game from the press box.

I believe last year, the person who purchased this item wound up meeting Vin Scully, Jaime Jarrin, Tommy Lasorda, Joe Torre, Ned Colletti, Fernando Valenzuela, Charley Steiner, Rick Monday and several players, among others. Trust me…we make it worth your while because it’s such a great cause so bid now before someone else gets this lifelong memory (have I talked it up enough).

Tomorrow’s an off day and likely no post, but we’ll be back to posting almost daily starting on Tuesday. Hang in there, Dodger fans. It’s been a tough weekend, but the Dodgers still have the third-best record in the NL and there are still several guys waiting to hit their strides.

Good evening everyone………….
.
I missed todays game due to work…..Did, I just read that Dre took out the bat rack??
.
That’s a start…..or as Mattingly put it ” I like that. ”
.
Cincinatti should be a welcomed site for the bats, and I am sure the Happy Flight Night is somewhat intense…..
.
Time to get it together………….
.
GO DODGERS!!!!!

Hey people, its like I’ve beem saying, this team wasn’t built to win, it was built to compete. Frank’s content with always contending to win the west. It keeps butts in the seats and coin in his pocket without having to acquire the personnel necessary to win, namely a staff ace, a left fielder who gave a crap, and a 2Bman that actually could hit and play like a 2Bman.

And lest you think Manny’s $20 mil and Kuroda’s $15 mil comming off the books next season will allow Frank to get better personnel, think again. He won’t even give arbitration to players he knows won’t accept in order to get two draft picks because he doesn’t want to pay for high caliber prospects. He won’t sign this Lee kid either. He’ll scatter a little of it on arbitration, less than $10 mil on a half dozen PVLs, and pocket the rest. The man would rather give money to a psychic than pay for a good player. What in anything Frank’s done, especially recently, that says winner?

I think we need to forget about our pipe dream of winning and resign ourselves to being content in watching Dre and Kemp and Brox while we’ve got them because as long as Frank owns this team, that’s ALL were ever going to have. You know, its like being a Cubs fan.

Dodger4life – he sure did!!! I was listening to the post game show with Josh and Ken on my way home and sure enough that is what happened. They figured as long as he doesn’t hurt himself in the process it is better to see a reaction like that (It means he really cares) then one in which he seems not to care. They used Andruw Jones as an example of a player who never seemed to care how he did.

Dodgereric – He should be embarrassed to put any member of the Dodger staff through any form of questioning on this topic. So,this Vlad guy must be an Angels fan because he sure as hell didn’t give any positive vibes to our team this weekend.

Last season It was Randy Wolf…and The O-Dog whom were looking for work…..They were hungry…..The team was coming off a brand new horizon…..The Promised Land…..albeit…nothing is truley promised. The potential horizon was in grasp!!
.
This year to present date and ITFST time, included….The Intensity Levels and Commitments are lacking and it shows.
.
Our Fearless leader Frank is Loony Tunes…….
.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hkJL6wRBE8
.
You Have to Earn Your Keep Son!!!
.

Josh,
It sure was a tough weekend. I had to put up with a few obnoxious Angel fans for all three games. I hate to lose to them and not be able to even salvage one game.
.
The only good thing is we got a lot of fans to sign up for the Saturday June 19 Blood drive. I hope our Dodger Booster Club beats the Angel Booster club this year in the annual Blood drive competition.
.
We completely booked the Glendale, Pomona and Long Beach locations. We only had open room for Pasadena, Fullerton and Laguna Hills.
.
Thank you all that stopped by and signed up this week!
The two Dodger tickets you will be getting is for July 10th Photo Day plus the featured t-shirt, plus voucher for Wahoo fish tacos, plus voucher to the Laugh Factory.
Emmahttp://crzblue.mlblogs.com

OMG! I’m just reading about the freaken person FRANK hired. I can not believe that he brought some sorcerer over when he should of brought additional coaches that have played or know about the game. Someone who will benefit the team. Superstition only makes it worst! SSSshhhh!
*
I attended the game on Friday and I think the Dodger’s forgot to attend. It felt like they weren’t there, NO FOCUS. Billz was never there, that’s for sure. Maybe too many distractions: Sorcerers, Soccer Fever, Lakers fever, celebrities, tiny targets on the outfield, breaking records that does not involve BASEBALL, toooo many beach balls….I don’t know. But they would walk around with their head down.
*
ANDRE ETHIER needs to humble up again and not worry about Mr. Clutch, Mr. I-GOT-THIS, HERO action figures, and stats. He needs to concentrate!
*
TIME TO FOCUS. LET’S GET BACK TO 1ST PLACE! LET’S GOOOO DODGERS!

OH YEAH…maybe it is just me. But I really hate it when FANS start cheering for the LAKERS during a baseball game. Don’t mind a one time thing but hey NOT the WHOLE GAME. I just feel that our boys get distracted when they hear cheers for LAKERS and not them, or when they are hearing ‘BOSTON SUCKS!’, when we are playing the Angels. Fans were arguing over the freaken basketball game. Some guy had the balls to wear his Celtics shirt in a L.A. game. Ay-YA-yaaaaeeee!

Matt Kemp’s numbers, extrapolated for an entire 162-game season, from the start of the 2010 season thru April 28th:

54.5 HRs, 154.8 RBIs, .292/.350/.584/.934

April 28th: the Colletti Rip

From April 29th to the present, again extrapolated for an entire 162-game season:

15.9 HRs, 50.6 RBIs, .250/.315/.409/.723

Just an aside, he started the season at the absolutely insane pace of 81.5 HR, 231.9 RBI, .333/.400/.750/1.150 pace for the first 14 games, then went into a .200 funk for 6 games before Colletti opened his fat yap.

Sell the team, you worthless piece of slime. And take that ex-Giant slug with you. And the ex-Yankees. Both of them.

Good Morning ITD readers and writers!!! I see we are our bright and cheery selvs this morning. The one positive today is the Dodgers can’t lose since they are not playing.

I understand history and all, but why on Earth do we get the pleasure of playing the Yankees and the Giants get the real pleasure of playing the Orioles? If we are going to do the interleague thing, then it should be across the board the NL West plays the AL East. Yesterday on the radio Josh and Ken were saying if we want to say we are one of the best, we have to be able to beat the best, and I agree with that. However, it should come with some balance to the rest of the teams in our division who seem to be having an easier interleague schedule than us. It’s going to be a tough two weeks Dodger fans. So, let’s hope we can at least maintain our position in our division before the end of the month when we meat the gnats again at AT&T Park.

Interesting….was just offered an opportnity (as I suppose many of you were too) to register to purchase tickets for the Yankees games. Guess they didn’t sell out. What about those poor suckers who purchased the mini-plans? How do they feel now?
.
I can’t wait for Frank to SELL THE TEAM!!!!!

Of all the crap that we, as fans, put through certain players at times (and there have been many), Matt got very little of that crap because of his “development status”, but Ned certainly has seemed to squash his spirit in just those few comments he made late in April. Even the Superhero comment isn’t something you would normally hear Matt say or even think. Maybe this “superhero” status is just a tad too much for Matt and Andre to handle right now. They are being sold to us, the fans, as the sole reason to watch this team, and those of us on ITD have known all along it’s pitching and defense, mixed in with “timely” offense that gets you a championship. We don’t have the pitching to get us to the next level and to expect Matt and Andre (and James) to carry a team every single time the pitching doesn’t have it is too much to ask of two players on a team of 25 IMO of course.

Wannabe – Thanks for looking up those stats. Exactly my point the other day. I put the blame on Matt’s slump on Ned. Matt hadn’t fielded his position well or run the bases well. But to slam him when his bat was making up for it was a joke. As some mentioned before Ned never said anything about any other players from the past when they weren’t doing well. So why did he do it with Kemp. I think to take the focus from the lame pitching the he (Ned) was responsible for.
.
Matt is pressing so hard to make Ned eat his words.
.
He needs to go to bat and think about going to the bathroom.
.
When I slump or have teammates that are slumping that’s what it comes down to. You have to stop thinking at some point and just let it happen. Sometimes you over think and analyse and it just gets you all confused. So he just needs to think about going to the bathroom!
.
It terms of the energy guy I’m with Torre … I don’t want to talk about it.
.
I’m glad Dre took out the bat rack. I wish some of the other guys would show some of that passion.
.
On the Dodgers homepage there is a great article about Bills & his dad which is touching and makes one think about what is important. As someone who basically grew up without a dad it was something that reminded me how important a dad is if you are one.

Messagebear – thanks!!! I am not sure how much of Andre’s slumping is his finger or just Andre slumping. He seems to do this slumping thing every year about June, and then he comes out of it gang busters through the end of the season. I guess it is a wait and see process with him. From what I watched this weekend, he seems to be swinging at pitches that he would normally not swing at. So, that leads me to believe he is pressing a bit too much. However, when he gets a hold of the ball, it’s a rocket, but it just seems to be right at someone lately. I can certainly see his frustration over that than a strikeout. A stikeout he knows he did something wrong…………judgement or otherwise, but a perfectly hit ball that just happens to land into the hands of a well done defensive play or just inches foul from a home run has got to be infuriating. I am sure the bat rack can tell you how mad he was – lol!!!

ETHIER will bounce back. Alot has to do with his matuarity and all the mental emotion a young player goes through. Ethier is a great player and when he is HOT he is burning HOT! He went through a speed bump (his lil’ pinky) and now he has to mentally & emotionally figure out how to get out of that slump. He puts too much pressure on himself since he knows that the fans/the team & coaches want the HERO, MR. CLUTCH, WALK-OFF DRE to play. But this is were he has to concentrate and just figure out how to deal with it all. GOOD LUCK DRE’! Same for KEMP!

In terms of Dre I felt at the time they should of held him back an extra week or two. He is a competetor and and as being one myself you tend to push and with an injury to yourself you tend to push back to soon. Then you get into bad habits with your swing. I agree with Nelly that he is also pressing. One K he had he was swinging at a pitch around his shoulders and in some other swings he had he was so off balance he was stumpling across home plate. I hadn’t seen that from him all year.

I love Andre’s fight and passion for this game. I am sure he wants to be an All-Star for the right reasons…………..not because Dodger fans stuffed a ballot box.

Tru………….the article said Torre heard it behind him but not much else. Afterwards, listening to the interview with Torre on the post game show, he made a reference to Paul O’Neill again like he always does.

Well, it looks like Andre has figured out left hand pitching. Now, maybe he needs to figure out how to make June a more productive month for him. However, we are only halfway through June so there is still time to figure it out and end up just fine by the end of the month.

I know most of the focus for the Red Sox series is going to be Manny and the fan reaction, but I am looking forward to seeing Andre and Dustin Pedroia in the same game. Andre and Dustin are both ASU Alumni, very good friends, off-season work out partners and neighbors in Arizona. Not all the drama that Manny brings to Boston, but it certainly will be a story for Ethieraholics to enjoy.

I don’t think he needs to be moved in the lineup yet. It’s not like Manny and Matt are tearing it up right now either. Yea, Manny had “a” good game, but until he starts stringing them together, he isn’t much of a threat yet. James perhaps but he seems to be comfy where he is at right now. Vin has been saying all along Andre has been hitting the ball hard. He just doesn’t have anything to show for it. Well, that showing will get there soon enough. If he were the sole reason the team did poorly this past weekend, maybe, but like Ken and Josh said yesterday, Andre is the least of the Dodgers worries right now. The pitchers have some things to figure out in these next two weeks. We can’t keep going down 4-0 in the first two innings each game. That is a problem in itself.

I first have to comment about some of the things said in earlier posts about Matt Kemp. I find it interesting that many of you are blaming the dumb remarks by Ned for Kemp’s problems. If Kemp were a “PVL” in the same situation, you would be all over him and the entire organization for signing the guy. We don’t even know for sure how Kemp really reacted to those comments or how he really felt about them but it really doesn’t matter. His woes cannot be attributed to anyone else but himself. If he is pressing, he is only confirming what Ned said. This is Matt’s present and future and he has to take these comments for what they are worth. Ethier says he plays everyday as if he has to prove himself over and over again. Maybe Matt has to do the same thing. Swinging at pitches out of the strike zone will not get the job done.

Really, who besides Andre and Jamie Carroll are playing consistently? And even Andre’s numbers have suffered since the injury but at least he has a reason. Everyone else needs to do what he can and play up to his ability. Scary thought that some of them might already be doing that.

The news about Bills is disheartening. No one is really waiting for Padilla to come to the rescue. Normally you hope someone steps up when called upon to fill a spot but it seems the Dodgers are running out of bodies.

Torre said Billingsley injured the groin in his last start Friday against the Los Angeles Angels. The decision to put him on the DL was made before Tuesday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds, after Billingsley attempted to throw in the bullpen.

Billinsgley was scheduled to start in Thursday’s series finale.

The Dodgers’ starting rotation already is in a state of flux with right-hander Vicente Padilla expected to come off the disabled list this weekend, although Padilla said through an interpreter that Torre gave no indication of whether that would happen when Padilla met with the manager and pitching coach Rick Honeycutt on Tuesday.

Rookie Carlos Monasterios was expected to return to the bullpen after starting on Sunday against the Angels, but Billingsley’s situation could result in the right-hander staying in the starting rotation for now.

Things just keep getting worse. And, now I too, am positive THE OWNERSHIP SUCKS!!!!!! You would think he would have seen something like this coming and did absolutely nothing about it! PLEASE SELL THE TEAM, FRANK!!!!!

Meta

The following are trademarks or service marks of Major League Baseball entities and may be used only with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.